A vernal breeze strikes the air upstairs, sets grief in the stones along our path. The wind disquiets the skylights and fat drops fall like aluminum coins, beat on the mud, run down the face of Mardi Gras like tears.

Don’t say tears. You might as well say, “Surprised by spring, a person could talk sorrow all the way to Memphis.”

Wendy Taylor Carlisle lives and works the Arkansas Ozarks. She is the author of two books and three chapbooks. Her most recent publication is Persephone on the Metro, a chapbook from MadHat Press (2014). Her work is available on line and has been anthologized. Some of her publications are linked on-line at www. wendytaylorcarlisle.com.